GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Auburn swingman Keyshawn Hall scored 22 of his 24 points in the first half and pushed Auburn to a 19-5 advantage over the first four and a half minutes in the 76-67 win at Florida on Saturday.
Hall scored the Tigers’ first 10 points as he set the tone for the afternoon, where the Tigers never trailed.
“Obviously, Keyshawn Hall had an incredible individual performance in the first half, offensively,” commented Gators coach Todd Golden. “Sometimes you have got to tip your cap that way. We didn’t do a good job of guarding his three or keeping him off the line.”
Hall made all four of his free throws, a triple plus a jumper in the lane in the game’s first 2:40.
“When he makes a couple shots, the basket just gets really big for him,” Auburn coach Steven Pearl said. “He kind of carried our offense and gave us the confidence we needed to hang in there, obviously.”
Leading 43-28 at halftime, Tigers forward Sebastian Williams-Adams made a three-pointer on the left wing to give Auburn its biggest lead at 18.
The Gators kept Hall in check in the second half, as he was 1-of-7, while Gators swingman Tommy Haugh scored on a reverse layup and made two free throws to tie the game at 56-56 with 8:09 remaining. He scored 14 points out of halftime to allow the Gators to prevail.
“There’s a lot of really good teams in our league,” said Golden. “Auburn’s one of them. They’ve got really good talent. We pride ourselves on being the mentally and physically tougher team. I don’t think we were either of those tonight. We did not respond quickly enough to their early punches, and we just couldn’t get back on track in the first half.”
After a goal-tend was reversed on Hall that would have given Florida its first lead, Tigers point guard Tahaad Pettiford found layups off of his dribble-drive in the half-court. The Tigers reinvented their lead for the rest of the game as Kevin Overton hit a pull-up jumper, and Auburn led 62-56.
“Three weeks ago, our team would’ve folded and let all that pressure get to us. Our team did a great job of hanging in there and staying together,” said Pearl.
After tying the game at 56-56, Florida finished by missing its next nine shots and took 12 misses in the last 14 attempts.
“I want to credit Auburn. They took the fight to us today,” said Golden. “We have been pretty consistent with that over the last couple of weeks. They were quicker to the ball, more physical, and did a great job on the glass. We were down six (rebounds) at halftime.
Keshawn Murphy, Kevin Overton, and Pettiford sealed the game with two free throws each before Murphy scored off the break on a slam dunk off the right side to punctuate Auburn’s win.
The Gators’ loss pushed Texas A&M into first with a one-game lead in the SEC over Florida, Arkansas, and Kentucky, who have two losses each. Auburn has now risen to 4-3 with three consecutive wins after a four-point overtime loss at Georgia and a reversal by game officials on a three-point field goal by Murphy, which allowed the Aggies a 90-88 win.
“We had to value the basketball a little bit more,” said Golden. “I didn’t think we did a good enough job down on the low box, handling the double teams and the digs. We didn’t shoot the ball well enough. There are a number of things that you can clean up. Second half, we didn’t turn it over as much, so I thought we were missing too many shots and free throws.”
Auburn ended Florida’s 16-game home win streak as the Tigers had lost 11 in a row at Florida since 1996.
Murphy Joins Haugh with Inside Command: Tommy Haugh put together a double-double with 27 points and 10 rebounds and reminded the college basketball populace that he should be a high first-round pick in this season’s NBA Draft.
Murphy’s consistency matched Haugh with his 16 points and nine boards as he forged Auburn ahead in the second half after Lee was minimized.
“He’s healthier now,” said Pearl. “He wasn’t healthy the first 16-17 games of the year. You’ve seen his production go up, and we have been able to run things for him, and any time a miss is coming off, he is crashing the offensive glass.”
Confidence has a huge impact on Murphy’s ability.
“Like coach said, a lot of that is me getting my back healthier, and a lot of that is me building my confidence and the coaches and my teammates having confidence in me as well,” said Murphy.
Despite the injuries, Murphy provides an extra amount of confidence when the 6-10, 245, forward has maintained by averaging 10.8 ppg, 6.6 rpg, and finding 7.2 attempts and shooting 57.7 percent in 23 mpg.
“We have got way more pep in the step, way more balance, and you can see that with his touch around the rim and his three ball in the second half was cash too, Man,” exclaimed Pearl.
Haugh was a force with his productivity as he made plays at the rim on both ends with his layups, rebounds, and defensive acumen.
His inside play took control as Alex Condon scored only one point and was 0-for-4 in the paint in 37 minutes.
“They had a different game plan than most teams,” Golden explained. “They just weren’t guarding him on the perimeter and plugging him in the paint. “I was more disappointed in our inability to get them down low, but they were showing bodies any time we threw it inside.”
Coaches Corner: Auburn vs. Florida featured long-time friends as Golden and Pearl matched up as head coaches for the first time.
Both teams have played one of the nation’s toughest non-conference schedules as Pearl and his staff joined coach Bruce Pearl to put together another talented roster, but waiting for the players to come together is different in every program. Only Pettiford returned from last season’s SEC regular season championship, which led them to a 1-seed and a Final Four in the NCAA Tournament.
Meanwhile, Todd Golden led the Gators to the NCAA Tournament championship last season, and it was Florida’s first national championship since 2007. Golden and his staff clearly put together last season’s talented roster, as Will Richard (Warriors), Walter Clayton, Jr., (Wizards), and Alijah Martin (Raptors) now reside on NBA rosters.
“They’re like family to us,” Golden explained. “Two times a year or one time plus the tournament, there’s an opportunity for us to compete against them, and listen, we want to beat them pretty bad. They want to do the same to us. I think we can do a good job of separating that relationship from the competition this weekend.”